Celebration of life planned August 5th for Joyce King, 1928-2017

Family and friends will gather on August 5th to celebrate the life of Joyce King, and are sharing this remembrance with the community:

Joyce King – Beloved Mother, Teacher, Friend, and a Force for Fun, dies at 89

Joyce King loved to make people laugh. From the time she was a young girl in the 1930s to the final days of her life, she found ways to deploy her gentle but constant sense of humor to make those around her giggle, have fun and feel included. Joyce died on July 6, 2017 from complications of dementia, a disease that affects memory and brain function. Despite living with this difficult disease for more than five years, she never failed to recognize her much-loved family and friends. Nor did the disease stop her from making new friends and charming them with her warmth and graciousness, even after moving into a memory-care facility in 2016.

Joyce Elizabeth Horn King was born in 1928 in Langruth, Manitoba, Canada. She was adopted at birth by Ernest and Eva Horn, and brought to Seattle in 1933 by her mother Eva after Ernest died of cancer. Joyce grew up in the Madrona neighborhood of Seattle and attended Garfield High School. She was a graduate of Whitman College in Walla Walla, where she earned a degree in English and Education. Books, literature and poetry were her passion. She could quote from memory poems and passages from the works of William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, and Edward FitzGerald’s translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, among many others.

But she also loved silly rhymes, limericks, and jokes and could make an entire room full of people laugh with her rapid-fire series of groaners. She taught English and Drama at Granite Falls High School and fifth and third grades at Sultan School District for more than 25 years.

“Life begins at 70!” Joyce would say after she retired and moved from Startup to West Seattle, where she became an active and beloved member of the Senior Center of West Seattle. She performed with the Senior Center’s ukulele band for almost 20 years. She also loved to travel and visited many U.S. cities and other countries including Spain, Mexico, Brazil, the UK and Iceland and of course Canada. She made friends wherever she went.

But most of all Joyce King loved her family. She is survived by her sister Thelma Thompson of Whitewood, Saskatchewan; her dear cousin Dorothy Johnson of San Jose, California; her children Chris King, Katie King, and Connie King; her grandchildren Courtney King, Tara King, Mahealani King, and Evan King; and her great grandchildren Benny Gilbertson, Stevie Lee, and Kohliana Lee.

Joyce King lived a long, joyous, and fun-filled life. She was very, very loved.

If you would like to honor Joyce’s memory, please consider donating to the Senior Center of West Seattle. It is an extraordinary community resource and non-profit organization that relies on gifts to provide its extensive services. You can donate online here, and write to the Senior Center to let them know you are donating in Joyce’s name: lylee@seniorservices.org. You can also call to donate: 206-932-4044.

Family and friends will gather to remember and celebrate Joyce’s life at the Senior Center of West Seattle, 4217 SW Oregon St, on Saturday, August 5, 2 pm to 5 pm. Attendees are kindly requested to RSVP by calling the Senior Center’s main number (206) 932-4044 or visiting the front desk at the Senior Center. Or you can email Katie King at ktking@gmail.com.

(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)

3 Replies to "Celebration of life planned August 5th for Joyce King, 1928-2017"

  • Florence Minor July 26, 2017 (5:23 pm)

    What a beautiful and heartfelt remembrance of a very special and much loved woman. We send our most sincere condolences and love to our dear friend Katie and her husband Paul, and Joyce’s entire family and many friends. Rest In Peace, Joyce. You will be loved and remembered by all who knew and loved you.  ~ Florence and Wendell Minor

  • Dan S Gage July 26, 2017 (7:49 pm)

    Joyce was early member of West Seattle Neighbors for Peace. One day it seemed half of Seattle was near the T-5 piers & many traveled here from other big cities, to protest the huge Shell Oil platform deep sea drilling rig berthed here for few days for work on it and for staples and fresh provisions for meals. Me and Joyce and thousands were shouting at this big dumb drilling rig No Arctic drilling sHELL NO and Drilling up North today. –  We say NO Way We looked around and noticed a nice old couple early sixties or so walking toward us down the picket line. They were also some of Joyce’s early West Sea Neighbors for Peace, they yelled out Joyce, We haven’t seen you for what, maybe ten years now. Joyce wheels turning as she realized who they were so I hurried and spoke up, saying, “well then, were you in federal prison for unruly protesting?” Well Joyce started chuckling and could not stop. Then we all joined her and we couldn’t stop laughing either. It was a great reunion and at a world famous event,  the thriller sHELL NO TO ARCTIC DRILLING IN SEATTLE ! ! this per Joyce and dan west Seattle hell raisers.

  • Kristy Jacobs July 27, 2017 (7:19 pm)

    Joyce was such a warm, funny, intelligent woman. She was a fabulous grandma! RIP sweet Joyce. You will be missed 😘

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